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Shalom!

We have moved beyond our wonderful Jewish High Holidays and been touched by the September 11^th memorial tributes. It is now time to move on with our lives. “Look up . . . your redemption draws nigh” (Luke 21:28).

Let me ask the profound question, “If you were accused of being a Christian, would there be enough evidence to convict you?”

Do you believe Jesus is coming soon? Does your life reflect that belief? Do you really love God? These questions are not answered with a simple, “Yes,” or “No.” The answers must be lived through vibrant faith and empowering discipline.

We must internalize and personalize these questions. Let me ask this more simply, “Am I willing to lay my life down for Jesus?” If not, I may never be willing to truly live for Jesus. Are you a Christian because you want to have friends in high places? If He doesn’t have a friend in low places, you miss the point . . . and you may miss His greatest blessings.

Perhaps some of you are going through low places in your life right now. Some of you may be suffering and questioning the will of God at this very moment. I want to remind you that God loves you and has a blessed plan for each of His servants. His way is not always smooth. Sometimes our faith is tested in the fires of life’s trials. Remember, even Jesus, “Learned he obedience by the things which he suffered.” (Heb 5:8). God knows the strength He desires to build into your faith through your experiences. Will you joyously give God the reign over every area of your life? Will you praise Him for the rainbows, as well as the rain?

Permit me to focus some attention on a Jewish guy named Paul. I love Paul. He is a role model who learned how to endure trials with grace. Paul was an extremely resourceful guy! But after Paul became a Christian, he was always in trouble. The rank & file folks in the Church didn’t trust him because he had formerly hunted down and killed Christians when he was still an angry Pharisee known as Saul of Tarsus. Later, the Church leaders within the Jerusalem Council were angry with him for converting massive numbers of Gentiles into the congregation of the saints. His old Jewish friends were angry with him for becoming a missionary to people who were not Jewish. Even the Romans were aggravated with Paul. They were uncomfortable because everywhere he went, the peace of Rome was threatened. Riots just seemed to follow this man wherever he went.

Paul became accustomed to difficult circumstances. One day, Jesus Himself came to Paul and said something to the effect, “son, get out of Dodge nobody is going to believe your story.” Actually, the way Paul described the encounter, he said, ¹⁷. . . it came to pass, that, when I was come again to Jerusalem, even while I prayed in the temple, I was in a trance; ¹⁸And saw him (Jesus) saying unto me, Make haste, and get thee quickly out of Jerusalem: for they will not receive thy testimony concerning me” (Acts 22:17-18). Now Paul knew what was going on. He said, “Lord, they know that I imprisoned and beat in every synagogue them that believed on thee: ²⁰And when the blood of thy martyr Stephen was shed, I also was standing by, and consenting unto his death, and kept the raiment of them that slew him. ²¹And he said unto me, Depart: for I will send thee far hence unto the Gentiles” (Acts 22:19-21). Now translating this from King James English into a more modern parallel, Paul was sort of asking to get into God’s witness protection program! But it was too late. A mob developed when Paul testified and they said, “Away with such a fellow from the earth: for it is not fit that he should live” (Acts 22:22b). In essence, his enemies said, he doesn’t deserve to take up space on this planet. Then a group of Roman soldiers took their liberty to begin beating him. I love the King James Version of the account. “²⁴The chief captain commanded him to be brought into the castle, and bade that he should be examined by scourging; that he might know wherefore they cried so against him” (Acts 22:24).

Paul’s “examination” or test was through a good whooping. How often do we get tested in a similar way? How often is our faith tested by situations we would prefer to escape? Well, Paul was often tested. His testimony was crammed with reports of beatings, scourgings, being left for dead, saved by the skin of his teeth, and the litany of trials seems endless. Yet Paul understood better than any man that the there was to be an end to his trials. In fact, at the end, Paul knew he would receive the hope of glory for Paul had met Jesus Christ on the road to Damascus.

Paul was a sinner saved by grace. He knew who was in charge of his destiny. Do you? This all serves to bring me back to the issue I began to address in my introduction: “Are we children of the king, and, if so, were we saved to rule or to serve?”

As you might guess, I will give you my opinion. But before I do, I want you to know that I am also interested in yours. I’d love to hear from you. Would you be willing to let me know what you think? May I ask you to take a moment to tell me a little about yourself? I’d like to hear about your faith. Do you believe in Jesus? Do you believe He lives? Do you believe He was Jewish? How does that impact your understanding about the Early Church? Are you interested in this stuff? If so, perhaps, you would enjoy receiving our free teaching newsletter that focuses attention on these issues.

I pray you will receive this blunt spiritual inquiry in the spirit in which it was intended. My desire is to challenge each reader to draw closer to the Lord. To prove my intent, I want to offer you a FREE tool to help you reflect on Jesus your King. If after reading this article you are challenged to go deeper with the Lord, it will be my pleasure to send you a FREE CD or cassette copy of the complete audio teaching to which this message points entitled,

“Are you a Child of the Burger King?”

Some Christians act like spoiled royalty--children of the king—the Burger King--we want it our way and we want it now! But this is not the call of a Christian.  

This FREE audio teaching will remind you that we are children of the king . . . but we are not to act like the spoiled offspring of a buffoonish monarch. The Lord is not raising spiritual brats. God is preparing you to be His servant. Are you acting accordingly? Do you want to be a true, fruitful, faithful servant of the King? I want to help you! Please permit me to send you this FREE CD or cassette teaching entitled, “Are You a Child of the Burger King?”  

This message contains the seeds of true faith to change your walk with God. My desire is to help you attain your destiny in His service. But beware, this fallen world contains the seeds of heresy to steal your faith and relegate you to a place of depressed obscurity in disobedience.

This teaching explains important facts from the Scriptures about the Jewish origins of the Christian Church. I want everyone to know my Jewish Messiah. I want your faith to grow.

This FREE audio teaching is a compelling message to help you walk in truth. It is also available to help you challenge your friends or loved ones to live a life of dedicated service to our King Jesus.

Finally, I will ask you to pray for the success of this FREE audio teaching distribution. May God’s will be accomplished and many be blessed as a result of this ministry effort. Jesus is Lord and he was such a nice Jewish boy. He deserves the best effort from each of His servants!

Please keep on the lookout for future articles and let me know how you feel about this outreach of CrossTalk TV & Radio. You can write to me, my name is Randy Weiss, at CrossTalk, P.O. Box 2528, Cedar Hill, Texas 75106, USA. Our website is www.crosstalk.org and in the US, you can call us toll free, 1-800-688-3422. I really would enjoy hearing from you so please, write today.

Copyright 2002 by Randy Weiss, Ph.D